Windows XP [Electronic resources] : Visual Quickstart Guide, Second Edition نسخه متنی

Organizing Your Library

Over time, your hard drive will become crowded with music and video files that you've copied or downloaded. Media Player's library is a master list that helps you play and keep track of all your media files.

To show the library:

Choose View > Go To > Library.

or

Click Library on the Features taskbar (Figure 10.22 ).

Tips

The Details pane works like Windows Explorer in Details view. To choose which columns appear, right-click a column heading; then click a column in the pop-up list. To sort by a column, click that column's heading. To rearrange columns, drag the column headings left or right.

To show or hide the List pane, click the Library Options button above the Details pane; then click Show List.

Behind the scenes, Media Player populates the library by inspecting your My Music folder (among other locations). Choose Start > My Music to see the folder (Figure 10.23 ).

The library also lists your music subscriptions, TV, video, and other digital media.

Before you can create playlists, burn CDs, or copy files to portable music players, you must add (to the library) links to digital media files. CDs copied to your hard drive become part of the library automatically. You can add links to other media files in several ways.

To add items to your library:

Choose Tools > Search for Media Files (or press F3) (Figure 10.24 ).

or

Choose File > Add to Library (or click Add to Library below the Contents pane); then choose a submenu command to search your computer; add an individual file, playlist, or folder; or add media files automatically from folders that you want Media Player to monitor.

or

Drag items from the desktop, My Computer, or an Explorer window to the Details pane.

Sharing Files" in Chapter 17.

The Now Playing pane lists the item that's playing currently even if that item hasn't been added to the library.

Duplicate items will appear in your library if you delete a file on your hard drive without removing the corresponding link in your library and then add the item to your library again. To remove duplicates, choose File > Add to Library > By Searching Computer; in the Search On list, choose the folder or drive where the previously deleted item was stored; then click Search.

Privacy and Security

Media Player relies on the internet to get information about the music and DVDs that you play. You also can use the player to buy content from online stores and share your library with other users. All these third-party interactions can expose information about yourself that you'd rather keep private. The relevant options are on the Privacy tab and the Security tab in the Tools > Options dialog box. You should inspect them, changing them if necessary to suit your preferences. the player's help pages describe each setting and its effects: In the Option dialog box, click the Privacy tab; then click Help. Do the same for the Security tab.

Also read Richard Smith's "Serious Privacy Problems in Windows Media Player for Windows XP" (and Microsoft's response) at www.computerbytesman.com/privacy/wmp8dvd. To read Microsoft's privacy statement, choose Help > View Privacy Statement.

You can search for library items and then play the ones that meet your search criteria or add them to a playlist.

To search for items in your library:

1. In the library, type the text that you want to search by in the box next to the Search button.

2. Click Search (or press Alt+S).

The search results are displayed in the Details pane.

3. To play the items that were found, in the Contents pane, right-click Search Results and choose Play.

You also can use the shortcut menu to add the search results to the Now Playing, Burn, or Sync list or to a new playlist.

In your library, you can delete links to files and playlists on your computer. When you delete a link, the file or playlist that it's linked to isn't deleted unless you choose to do so.

To delete items from your library:

1. In the library, right-click the item to delete; then choose Delete.

2. If prompted, choose whether to delete only the link or delete the file on your hard drive as well (to land in the Recycle Bin).

Tips

You can delete several items at the same time. To select adjacent items, click the first item; then Shift+click the last item. To select non-adjacent items, Ctrl+click each item. Right-click the selected items; then click Delete.